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The day Muhammad Ali came to Sarnia

This photo taken on October 19, 1974 shows US boxing heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali 11 days before he knocked out George Foreman in a clash of titans known as the "Rumble in the Jungle." Earlier that year, Ali spoke at a fundraising dinner in Sarnia, as a last-minute replacement. (AFP PHOTO)

It was the morning of the 1974 Sertoma Club of Sarnia Sportsman's Dinner and the organizers were in a bind.

The star attraction of that year's fundraiser, NFL running back Larry Csonka, had cancelled at the last moment, recalled George Heath, a retired sports broadcaster who was one of the dinner's organizers.

Heath said Csonka's agent called to apologize about the last-minute cancellation and offered to try to find a replacement.

“He called back at noon and says, 'I've got Muhammad Ali.' And we said, 'What?'”

Ali, the legendary boxer who died Friday at age 74, was in Chicago at the time, preparing for his “Rumble in the Jungle” title fight with George Foreman.

“His agent said Ali was just lying in his bed when he called him, and had nothing to do,” Heath said.

“We caught him at a very good time, that he would come at a moment's notice.”

Ali agreed to fly to Detroit with his entourage, on the condition they be picked up and driven to Sarnia in a white Cadillac.

“Well, we got him a Cadillac, but it wasn't white,” Heath said.

He believed the car was owned, and driven that day, by the late Bill Burgess, a former president of Lambton College.

The story goes that as they went through customs at the Blue Water Bridge, Burgess told the agent Ali was in the car, Heath said.

“The custom's guy goes, 'Ya, and I'm Julius Caesar.'”

But, then he took a look in the car and saw it was true.

“The custom's guy was just flabbergasted,” Heath said.

That year's dinner had been short of a sellout until the announcement was made on radio that Ali was attending, and the rest of the tickets were sold within hours, Heath said.

Canadian boxer George Chuvalo was also a guest at the dinner. He had fought Ali twice, but neither of the boxers knew the other was going to be there.

Health said he recalls thinking the serious portion of Ali's talk that evening wasn't the greatest.

But, when the boxer began to talk about the upcoming fight with Foreman, the crowd “went nuts,” Heath said.

“He said he was going to hit George Foreman so hard he was going to be on his way to the moon, and he'd be the world's first coloured satellite.”

Dan McCaffery, a young reporter for the Sarnia Gazette at the time, covered the dinner and remembers coming away impressed.

“He was as good as any comedian I've ever seen,” said the retired newspaper writer.

“I had always thought of him as a braggart and tiresome blowhard, but when I saw him in the flesh it was obvious it was just all an act,” McCaffery said.

“He was just very playful, funny and entertaining.”

That included saying Ali had never heard of Sarnia before that morning, and adding, “'You couldn't get Elvis here in one day, you couldn't get Sinatra here in one day, but I came because I'm the people's champion.'

“'Besides that, I wasn't doing anything, anyway.'”

During the dinner, Tim Taylor, a local amateur boxing champion, was named Sarnia sportsman of the year, McCaffery said.

“They introduced him in very glowing terms, listing all of his achievements.”

As Taylor walked up to receive his award, “Ali dove under the table, feigning fear,” McCaffery said.

“The whole place just erupted.”

McCaffery said he was able to interview Ali later for approximately half an hour.

“I was this long-haired, 22-year-old kid from a little weekly and he treated me like I was the editor of the New York Times.”

At one point, handlers tugged at Ali's arm and said it was time to go.

“And, he turned to the guy and said, 'Can't you see I'm talking to this man?'”

McCaffery said he remembers Ali stayed at the dinner to sign autographs and speak with everyone there who wanted to meet him.

“He loved the public, he loved the adulation,” McCaffery said.

“Some celebrities don't like that at all, but he just basked in it.”

McCaffery said that evening is his favourite moment in 36 years of reporting.

“He was the most famous person in the world, and he came to Sarnia on a half day's notice,” he said.

Heath, who worked at the time for one of Sarnia's radio stations, said he interviewed Ali the next morning he left for the airport in Detroit.

Ali spoke about the Vietnam War, and about his feelings about Canada.

“He said, 'You don't know how lucky you are, being in Canada. I love Canada. You're so peaceful and kind.”

Ali also spoke about how he had considered it a privilege to fight Chuvalo.

Heath said he asked about the upcoming fight with Foreman, and told Ali he wasn't convinced he could win.

“Well, he went nuts.”

By the end of the rant that followed, Heath told Ali he was now convinced.